I watch Hoarders and Buried Alive only when I have nothing else to watch...and definitely never when eating anything.
I started one tonight and am unsure if I'll finish it. This was the woman who had all those cats that use the whole house as a bathroom and she can't afford adult diapers so sleeps on newspapers on a urine soaked mattress. Lordy!! :eek
And then there's always those sticky strips that hang from the ceiling with thousands of dead flies and bugs on them, even though there are cockroaches and spiders everywhere else!! :omg
These people have to be really ill to live that way. I think I watch sometimes because of the shock value, like looking at a traffic accident. Until this show, I had absolutely no idea that these situations existed. When I thought about hoarders, I only thought about people who have too much junk.

It's an illness.My great aunt in the UK was a hoarder, it was terrible going to see her as a child, or a teen I should say. I could never find a cup for our tea, and I could never sit down. Piles of clothes on the couches, and I never knew if it was dirty or clean, laundry or new. Newspapers were in the hall, and an obvious fire threat.I have never seen the show, I feel they exploit the mentally ill. One thing I did learn from her( later on in my life) was there is usually a trigger, hers was losing a child, then she lost her husband. She felt she had to hang onto all their things and hers, in order to function. It was sad.

02-16-2012, 12:35 PM

libgirl2

Re: Hoarders (A&E)

Quote:

Originally Posted by captain

I do not think they are showing "hoarders" any more. I personally believe they are showing people with a mental illness. This is what I found for the definition of hoard: supply or fund stored up and often hidden away. It has nothing to do with the filth they have been showing on the shows. The only good thing that I get out of the shows is to clean out my refrigerator after each episode. I could not even imagine the smell of some of the ones on the show.

I know it does make a person feel better when they look around their own home.

02-16-2012, 01:35 PM

coltnlasma

Re: Hoarders (A&E)

Quote:

Originally Posted by captain

I do not think they are showing "hoarders" any more. I personally believe they are showing people with a mental illness. This is what I found for the definition of hoard: supply or fund stored up and often hidden away. It has nothing to do with the filth they have been showing on the shows. The only good thing that I get out of the shows is to clean out my refrigerator after each episode. I could not even imagine the smell of some of the ones on the show.

So true! I used to watch the earlier episodes featuring more traditional hording (like compulsive shopping or collecting). I liked seeing the process of figuring out why they horded and then how to manage it. I tend to want to hang on to things and store them away in case of a possible future usefulness, and my Dad and my Great Aunt who raised him are/were the same way so it's either learned or inherited or maybe a mix... so those shows were interesting to me and sort of educational, too. But the Buried Alive stories - I have yet to finish an episode because of the filth; they're showing people deep into mental illness and it's too disturbing for me to handle.

02-16-2012, 01:55 PM

pikachu

Re: Hoarders (A&E)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dragonlady

I watch Hoarders and Buried Alive only when I have nothing else to watch...and definitely never when eating anything.

lol! Yeah, I've learned that the hard way.

A few nights ago I had gone out for fast food and came back to watch it while playing games on Facebook and watching tv. I flipped through the channels and saw Hoarders was on. I about settled for watching it but when the first gross scene came on, I decided that wasn't the best show to watch while eating. I think I ended up watching something on HGTV instead.

I do wish they would focus more on organizing tips and counseling sessions with the hoarders instead of showcasing their hoard. Or even offer advice on what to do if a family member or neighbor is a hoarder. What services are available to them? How do you report them and to which agency? We've heard aftercare mentioned but the show has never followed that part of it.

I'd be curious to know more about the organizer and clean-up crew, too. How did they get in this line of work? Do they have guidelines they have to follow or is it set on a case by case basis? How much does it cost and how many hours does it take to clear the average hoard? Or the unaverage hoard, like the ones featured on the show? Are there some things they're required to report or throw away without consulting the hoarder?

I agree that the show has taken a more disturbing turn. There's a point where the person is longer disorganized and is truly mentally ill. I see no benefit from taking time to go through their hoard trying to teach them things because they are unable to care for themselves and will go right back to that state as soon as the organizers leave.

Mr. Wallace was more likable than most. He had no ax to grind with the people who turned out to help. He seemed more lonely than mentally ill and it was nice to see his neighbors from the village turn out to help. It was almost like a Disney story. He wasn't the Beast they all thought he was.

Please excuse the Channel 4 info. I am on the east coast and I watched this on tv right here at home. The link was simply the most informative reference I could find.

03-02-2012, 02:33 AM

Dragonlady

Re: Hoarders (A&E)

I tend to agree with the posters that felt it has now become more about a mental illness than just plain hoarding. It has to be because many of these people don't "see" or "smell" the mess anymore. On one of the more recent shows, most people couldn't even be there a couple minutes before the smell got to them.

And I do understand that certain tragedies can trigger there downfall into holding on to "things." But not being able to let go of things is far removed from having cats/dogs use the entire house for a bathroom. And most people, in time, learn how to cope with tragedy without falling into such dispair. I say this out of personal experience, having just gone thru a decade of personal tragedies/losses, etc. It takes time and a lot of effort but a mentally balanced person can come out of deep grief.
But most of these poor individuals seem to have other coping problems and a deep personal loss can cause them to lose it all and end up this way.
Just cleaning out the house is a start, and I can see that as a first step to recovery but most need a lot more help to acquire skills necessary to live differently. My heart goes out to them and hope they are receptive to help.

06-22-2012, 12:30 PM

AshleyPSU

Re: Hoarders (A&E)

Has anyone heard anything about when the new season will start? I've seen on Corey's facebook that they've been filming.

06-27-2012, 05:36 PM

Cornholio

Re: Hoarders (A&E)

This show makes me want to clean like crazy and donate a bunch of stuff!

One of my husband's co-workers was a hoarder who's whole house was filled with garbage and filthy, no working bathrooms. The woman and her daughter did #2 on the floor next to the fireplace. There were no clean clothes or anything - they sprayed febreeze on the clothes rather than washing them. There were a dozen cats pooping everywhere, there was poop down the walls from the cats going up high on the plant shelves near the ceiling! The daughter slept under a mosquito net. DCF came and took the daughter away and shortly thereafter the woman foreclosed on the house. A man bought the house sight unseen on the courthouse steps - boy he must've been in for a nasty surprise.... what a shame. Anyway, we had no idea what this was, I thought she must be on drugs or something to live this way. I didn't know what it was all about until I saw the Hoarders show! It certainly brings awareness to the problem.

06-29-2012, 08:51 PM

Little Sew&Sew

Re: Hoarders (A&E)

Hoarding - Buried Alive begins their new shows on July 8th at 9 . . . . not sure about Hoarders though.

This show makes me want to clean like crazy and donate a bunch of stuff!

One of my husband's co-workers was a hoarder who's whole house was filled with garbage and filthy, no working bathrooms. The woman and her daughter did #2 on the floor next to the fireplace. There were no clean clothes or anything - they sprayed febreeze on the clothes rather than washing them. There were a dozen cats pooping everywhere, there was poop down the walls from the cats going up high on the plant shelves near the ceiling! The daughter slept under a mosquito net. DCF came and took the daughter away and shortly thereafter the woman foreclosed on the house. A man bought the house sight unseen on the courthouse steps - boy he must've been in for a nasty surprise.... what a shame. Anyway, we had no idea what this was, I thought she must be on drugs or something to live this way. I didn't know what it was all about until I saw the Hoarders show! It certainly brings awareness to the problem.

Oh my that is horrible! I can see let collecting things and piles everywhere being not good, but once feces are involved it is just too much. How can people live next to piles of that? Ugh!